Fire Emblem: Seven Stars
by TheAzure-Crimson-Viridian
Summary: When I first woke up one day, I end up not in the same world I used to be. Now I realize I'm not the only one as several of my friends slowly start coming together, but just how jacked up can the original story get when there's seven new guys thrown into the mix?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: So this is how we first shall start, my first published story. I do not, in any way, own the rights to Fire Emblem Awakening or any related properties besides the original characters. And so it begins, please enjoy!...**

**Chapter 1: Friends and Fireballs**

Ever wake up with a terrible headache and not know where you were? Probably not in the way I am right now. I bolted upright when I felt something biting me. I notice when I stand up that nothing is there. What there is, I don't know either. Everything here is numerous trees and lush greenery, no place I've been recently.

_Where in the blue hell am I, _I thought to myself. I look at into a pond's reflection to find that my clothing has been replaced by a dark green cloak and poofy pants_._

_More importantly, what am I wearing? I feel like MC Hammer in these pants._

My hair also happens to have changed a bit, being mostly white, although it appears to have not affected my sideburns, chin beard, and roots of my hair, which are still black.

I also happen to be carrying a satchel, which is weird since in regular situations I wouldn't be caught with one of these things. I look inside it and find a red book and a little slip of paper. "Follow the road to the south and you'll find a town," I read out loud, "There you will find the answers to your questions."

_Great, the guys are pulling something on me again, _I grimace to myself as I find which direction south is and head that direction.

_When I see those guys I'm gonna mess them up so much, especially that idiot Tristan._

Fifteen minutes after walking, I come up to a town, but I realize that it looks not like any town I've seen before. All of the buildings and houses are made of stone, some with thatched roofs made of hay. Hay! Every person I see is wearing dull clothing and hauling around horses and cows.

_Okay, this is gonna be hard to figure out where I am, but this place does look familiar, _I ponder as I come up to what appears to be an inn, and I read the sign hanging off the front.

"The Wyvern's Pillow, finest bed & tavern in all of Ylisse..."

My mind froze as I read that last part.

_Ylisse?! That's impossible! There's no such way I'm in a fictional town in a fictional country in a fictional world from Fire Emblem. This makes no damn sense!_

I decide to go into the inn to see if I can drink my sanity back in the tavern when I hear a very familiar voice screaming.

"Dude! Can you just tell me where I am?"

I look and see someone having an argument with the innkeeper. I realize that even though he is wearing strange clothes, I recognize his short black hair and unshaven goatee anywhere.

"Zaine!" I shout out to get his attention.

"Niko?" he says, turning around and rushing up to me, doing the manliest bro hug.

I get a better look at him and realize he has knives of all sizes in sheathes all over his belt.

Then he asked,"Do you know where we are?"

"I have a good idea though you won't probably believe it," I replied.

He was about to say something when this large man wearing what looked to be a wolf pelt comes in brandishing an axe.

"Alright you worms, this is a raid! Hand over all the gold you got and we might let yous live!"

Zaine tenses up, reaching for his knife when the burly man notices.

"I don't think that's a good idea, boy," he says closing the distance.

Zaine, realizing that a single knife might not take down a guy of his size, pulls out his his money pouch and gives it to him.

I reach into my sack and pull out that red book from before, stopping for a second on it

_If we really are in Ylisse, then I know what kind of book this is._

I open the tome, point my hand toward the brute, and close my eyes. All of a sudden the book glows, and my hand feels hot for a second. I open my eyes, and find the fighter on the ground, dead and slightly charred. Zaine is looking at me with wide eyes and mouth ajar.

"Niko...when did you learn to shoot fireballs out of your hands?!"

I smirk a little bit, my thoughts confirmed.

"To be perfectly honest, just now."

"Well, can you do that again? 'Cause more guys are coming."

As he says that, two more men with weapons make their way towards us. Zaine removes two knives off his belt.

"Hang on, I got this," he says as he hurls both knives at the brigands.

One hits a fighter in between the eyes, while the other embeds into a myrmidon's shoulder. Before the swordsman can react Zaine unsheathes a larger knife, dashes out of the inn to the wounded brigand, and stabs it right into the chest of the guy. I follow my friend outside into the town square.

"Dude...How did...when did...," I try as hard as I can to muster up a sentence, but he seems to understand what I'm trying to ask.

"Good thing I played all that Assassin's Creed," he says with a smug smile.

"Oh great, you're making jokes now," trying to be serious but holding back laughter.

All of a sudden that chuckling is replaced by convulsions of pain on the ground as I am hit in the leg by a fireball. Zaine tried to dodge them as well, but took a blow to the shoulder and is down as well.

_Damn it, I forgot about that hurts like a mother. Oh, this is just perfect. Wait, are those hoofbeats?_

Out of the corner of my eye, I found the source of the noise and noticed it as one of the guys in this world I'd be completely ecstatic to see at the moment: Frederick with his spear right through that stupid spellslinger. I then notice someone get off from Fred's horse and run up to me.

"Niko, my cousin!"

_No freaking way._

Wearing armor and brandishing a sword comes another one of my good friends, extending his hand to pick me up.

_"_Walt? Is that you, you crazy bastard?"

"Who else could it be?" He says as he pulls me up.

"Zaine got hit really bad. He needs more help than I probably do."

"Not anymore. I'm as good as ever." Zaine comes striding over as he says this along with a girl in a hoop dress carrying a staff.

"Don't you worry," says the girl. "Lissa will take care of that nasty burn with the help of my trusty staff!"

Lissa arrives next to me while Zaine and Walt run on ahead to engage any brigands they come across. Metal rings and light flashes as both my two friends cut down any ruffian that stands in their way. It's almost shocking to see how well they perform with the endeavor, but I suppose this makes sense since they both had practiced swordplay. As Lissa raises the staff, an ethereal light seems to emanate from it. The feel of a third-degree burn go away in a snap is a weird experience to say the least.

As the healing was done and my leg ready for action, I look around and catch two people striking a very large man with an axe. I notice that one man has blue hair, which I assume is the ever serious Prince Chrom, while the guy next to him with the pure white hair has to be everyone's favorite amnesiac, Robin, which is good.

As the fight has now ended, the villagers have now come out of their homes to celebrate their brave defenders. Walt, Zaine, and I briefly bask in this shower of praise as Chrom and Frederick made there way up to us.

"You three had done yourselves a good job out there in that fight. If not for your assistance, the death toll in this town would have been astronomical." Chrom places his hands on Zaine's and my shoulder.

"You're welcome," Zaine responded curtly.

"It was no real trouble at all," I answered back.

The prince of Ylisse smiles and looks at Frederick, who just nods his head at him.

"Well then, how about you three also join the Shepherds since Robin has just joined us? We could use the extra members, so how about it?"

_Well, I guess nothing would happen if we didn't._

I look at my compatriots, who both nod in approval.

"Sir, we hereby accept your invitation to join your ranks," I reply with a bow.

"I am Niko," I gesture to my friends and continue,"This is Zaine, and I assume you've already met Walt here."

"Excellent." Chrom then proclaims, "Then we shall leave now for Ylisstol, since we have grave news to share with the exalt immediately."

About a half hour later, in the middle of our journey back to the capital, Walt starts talking to me.

"I'm getting kinda hungry. You think they got anything good to eat?" He asks.

I reply with a couple of snickers the most mischievous of grins and, "that depends, how do you feel about eating bear meat?"

**A/N: And there we go, my first chapter. Hopefully some people enjoyed it. I will be continuing this story and expect to see in the next chapter meeting a few more of Niko's quirky friends. For any constructive criticism or outright praise, please feel free to review as it will be greatly appreciated. Anyways, enjoy your day keep cookin'.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: It's baaaack! Due to an unexpected number of people actually liking this story, I'm back to stay. Please feel free to read part 2 of the ongoing story. Enjoy...**

**Chapter 2: Buddies and Bear Meat**

_I'm dying_

I hear Lissa crying out loud, Frederick a solemn look on his face.

_Dear gods, why did it happen like this?_

I lie splayed out on the ground, tasting death in my mouth. Looking towards my friends, who are huddled around me. Using every ounce of strength I currently have, I force out of my lungs,

"How in the Hell are you guys eating this stuff?!"

The taste of Death in my mouth is actually bear meat.

I never realized that something would taste this bad. It's too gamy and there absolutely no flavor to be had in this thing. Apparently, Lissa seems to feel the same exact way, pleading with her brother Chrom for something, anything, that would taste better than what they were eating now. Frederick just refrained himself from eating, citing that he was not really that hungry. The only ones that seemed to enjoy themselves with this monstrosity of a dish were Chrom, Robin, Zaine and Walt.

Hearing my outburst, my friends could only snicker as they went to town stuffing their faces.

"Niko, I've told you before that you can't out-eat us," Walt said before burst into full on laughter.

Zaine then adds with,"Yeah dude, we've been eating deer before, it's not that much gamier than even that."

Robin now joins in after chewing a big chunk of leg meat, "Oh come now, it's not that bad. I find it to be quite enjoyable."

Chrom then adds, "Well perhaps if you didn't get carried away casting your fire tome as many times as you did, the meat wouldn't be singed as it is."

I could only groan at this. As if they think I've actually hunted for anything and went all Circle of Life on it before. I desperately search in vain for a good comeback to shut these idiots up, when a voice speaks out for me.

"Well, I agree with Niko," says Lissa, in her usual upbeat manner. "It feels unnatural that we're eating bear. It's like were messing with the food chain or something!"

Finally I get some backup. _I almost forgot about how she sounded back when I played the game. _She sounds, kind of cute in a way-Wait, bad Niko. She's a princess. You're just a nobody from another world who became a hired soldier to her brother. Your influence equates to about a hunk of charred bear meat when you get hungry.

"Well, next time we will try to get something better for our **two** princesses," Walt responded sarcastically.

_Really man? Really!?_

"That's it, I'm going to sleep," I say finally fed up, refusing to deal with these idiots and their incessant laughter. I lie down so I can enjoy some peaceful sleep.

In my dreams, it's not so pleasant. The sky is blood red, dark and foreboding. I find myself running from hulking undead monsters. I try to get away, but I trip and crash into the ground. I can only react enough to see one large zombie bring his sword up, then speeding down towards my face.

I awake suddenly, seriously disturbed by that dream. However, what terrifies me more is Walt standing over me with the widest toothed grin I've ever seen. As he keeps that smile looming over me, i hear something in a ghastly whisper.

"I'm gonna kill you."

_Congratulations. You have now achieved pure terror!_

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!" I scream at the top of my lungs.

As the laughter starts pouring in, I recover my breath and realize what just happened.

"Dammit guys," I start speaking in my overly dramatic tone of voice, "I told you two to never...do that...again!"

How they managed to time that correctly as soon as I woke up is beyond me. It was well executed to say the least, even though they almost gave me a heart attack!

Suddenly,their laughing fit was over. I look over to my right and notice a very large figure towering over us, wearing light blue armor and a stern look. He spoke in a very calm but forceful voice.

"My apologies if I am disturbing your fun, but so it seems to be, my lord and his sister are currently trying to sleep not even ten feet from this spot. Please do keep it down."

We all answer quickly,"Y-yes, sir."

For someone who appears so nice and welcoming, Frederick actually is kind of terrifying in a way, if he got even Walt to comply.

As soon as he walked away back to where he was resting, all three of us look at each other with the most surprised of faces.

Zaine starts whispering,"Guys, did you all notice ho-"

"Ssshhhhh," I shush him immediately. "You hear that?"

We all turn around as we hear the bushes rustle behind us. Thinking of it as another bear, we all draw our weapons. Walt then says that hopefully the meat this time won't be burnt. I only groan.

But what comes out of the bushes is not a bear, but a person. A rather familiar person at that.

"Hey, watch it!" the stranger says. "Don't push me like that."

_That voice, it sounds very familiar._

"Cole," We all say at once."Is that you?"

Coming from the bushes right behind him is Robin, holding a book of some sort.

"Excuse me guys, but I found someone suspicious near where I was sleeping. He had a dark tome on him, so I think he might have been about to ambush us."

Cole then responds, "No, I wasn't! I was just hiding from some assholes who were trying to kill me!"

Zaine goes up to Robin."It's okay, he's a friend of ours."

Cole finally notices us. "Zaine? Niko? Walt? you guys are here too?"

Robin nods, understanding the circumstances and gives Cole back his book. "Seems strange that you three have a dark mage as an ally.

_Great. Showoff Cole is the most broken class that was in the game. Why is it that my friends have so much better luck?_

Just then, we hear explosions far off from us. The sky turns red, and a giant blue Eye of Sauron appears, leaking hordes of zombies like teardrops.

This causes the inner zombie slayer in Walt to stir to the surface, maniacal grin plastered on his face.

"Dudes, I think this place got a whole lot interesting." He then starts to rush headlong into the fray.

"Walt!" I yell, all of us running after him. "You crazy bastard, wait up!"

We all end up in an open field, surrounded by these animated corpses. I look and see Chrom and Lissa fairly close to us. Frederick comes riding in, obviously annoyed his sleep was disturbed again.

As everyone regroups together, we finally begin to witness the strategic brilliance of Robin, tactician extraordinaire.

"Alright everyone. We need to root out as many of these monsters as possible. That is why our frontline fighters shall draw them to the group allowing magic casters to steadily pick them off from the safety of those abandoned forts."

For an amnesiac found in a field a few hours ago, he seems to be quite capable in this situation.

Chrom then rallies his troops,"Okay everyone, let us stop these foul beings as quickly as possible, before they spread to any nearby towns!"

We all shout in response as we break the huddle going to our assigned positions: Cole takes the fort closest to the enemy, me in the centermost one, and Robin in the back to survey the whole battlefield.

We are about ready to initiate our plan when we see two people running onto the field as well. One is a woman with short red hair on top of a horse, which I immediately recognize as Sully. Which means that the man following her with a bow slung over his shoulder is smug nobleman Virion.

After witnessing Sully deliver a very painful looking kick to the Archest of Archers, they join us in the battle as well. The fight notably goes pretty well for first hour. Up until the zombies start showing up with bows do we have to break formation. We all start to round up the remaining forces, dodging the assault of arrows as we can. I take a look at everyone fighting individually; Walt going to town hacking the Risen in half, Zaine keeping distance knife tossing while Frederick finishes them off, Virion and Sully replicating the same tactic, Cole exploding them using what appears to be a Flux tome, shouting and Robin and Chrom together, mixing together both swordplay and magic in deadly combination. Even though we're barely close to being an actual army, The Shepherds are quite the effective fighting force.

It's at this point that I realize that Lissa is all alone, with absolutely no way to defend herself. I look around furiously, and find her fairly close to me. With giant zombie equipped with a tomahawk not too far from her. It appears to be the leader from what I noticed of its actions. I may be able to disrupt the chain of command. I aim my hand, ready to let the flames destroy the foul creature, but i notice that its axe is raised and ready to fly straight at Lissa.

_Dammit..._

I can kill the monster, but that means that she would probably die too.

_...Dammit..._

Without thinking, I sprint straight for the princess.

_...Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit..._

I get up in front of her, pushing her back, and react in pain as the axe cuts a deep gash into my shoulder. I pull it out, and feel unimaginable pain.

_DAMMIT!_

Kneeling on the ground next to me, Lissa uses her staff and, in a terrified voice says,

"Everything's gonna be alright. I'll get you patched up, I promise."

"No. get...to Chrom," I manage to get out. "Get someone to help."

"B-but...," she quickly replies.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine," I lied. I knew with that mammoth of a Risen would probably kill me before I even bled to death.

As just about that was going to happen, and I close my eyes to prepare for that final swipe, I realize it never came. I open my eyes to see a blade coming out of the chest of the leader. The blade then proceeds to veer straight up and bisect the Risen in half. The monster doubles over and falls down, disintegrating into violet mist.

Behind it stood the person who held the sword responsible for its death. A man wearing a white robe, a black cloth tied around the back his pale blonde hair like a martial arts headband. Oddly enough, he's also wearing glasses.

_Wait a minute. Katana? Pale blonde hair? Glasses? It couldn't be him, this guy's way too serious to be hi-_

"Well now," the guy says while looking at his sword,"Looks like this things now an actual Killing Edge, huh?"

_It _**_is _**_him. Who else of my friends could possibly be in this place and arrive so very conveniently at the last possible moment? Really, Naga help me._

"Damn it...Tristan," I utter at the supposed comedian.

Everything starts to appear blurry to me as I start to pass out from blood loss.

"That joke was in terrible taste."I immediately fall to the ground.

_And now I'm out._

_Dammit..._

**A/N: Two more unexpected allies join the party. What will this make for the Shepherds? Will Niko pull through his grave injury? Will someone try to smack Tristan for that awful pun? Find out next time on Fire Emblem: Seven Stars.**

**P.S.: Sorry for taking so long to release this chapter. I intended to release this chapter Saturday, but college demanded me that I write three different essays that week. Nevertheless, I will try to release them as frequently as I possibly can.**

**As always, feel free to favorite/follow/review as it will be greatly appreciated. Keep Cookin'!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: It's that time of the week, everybody! As promised, here is Chapter 3 to Seven Stars! Enjoy...**

**Chapter 3: Allies and Axes**

I see nothing but an endless expanse of darkness.

_So is this what it feels to be dead, huh? I always thought I'd be going out in such a boring way, although maybe a couple or so decades later. At least it was fun while it laste-_

"Niko!"

My thoughts are interrupted by a loud booming voice.

"Nikooooooooooo!"

An annoying one at that.

"He's not waking up."

_Wait. That voice sounds like..._

_"_Walt, dump the water."

"With pleasure."

_Oh please, no!_

I wake up nearly drowning, sputtering water out of my mouth. I look and notice Walt standing over me with a wooden bucket, of course. Tristan next to him, stupid smug look on his face. Slowly the rage starts to kick in.

"Hey buddy, how's it going?" Tristan asks.

I inhale deeply before I answer him.

"Hey Tristan. Let's see: I almost get cleaved in two by a hulking zombie on steroids, and you guys thought it be fun if you threw a bucket of water on me! How the Hell do you think it's going!?"

"I'm guessing it's going well then."

You could almost hear my sanity snap in half. As I'm about to reach over and strangle the idiot, I notice we're not outside anymore, but in a room with beds and medicine.

"Where am I and how long was I out?" I ask reassembling my composure.

As I said this, Zaine and Cole walked in.

"Well," Zaine started. "You were out for the greater part of the day since that night."

"We had to carry your unconscious self all the way here," Cole added in.

"As for where we are,"Zaine continued, "it's the capital of Ylisse, Ylisstol. More specifically, the infirmary in the barracks."

_Well that explains pretty much everything, except..._

"How did you find us so quickly back there, Tristan?"

"My forgetful friend, do you not remember that I played Awakening before you did?" He replied as expediently as possible.

"Oh yeah, that's right." I completely forgot about that. "So where is everybody else?"

"Well," Began Cole, "Chrom, Lissa, Frederick, and Robin went to see the queen-."

"Exalt," Zaine interjected.

"-Exalt to see how to deal with the asshole country attacking them."

"They said for us to bring you here and wait for them to come back," added Zaine.

"But some of us got bored," Walt proceeded. "So we decided to wake you up with this bucket."

"And although I would like to have you viciously beat Walt and Tristan within inches of their lives, you need to get dressed and meet the rest of the Shepherds."

It is then I realized I wasn't wearing the same shirt I was before, unless it was fixed magically.

"Hey guys, probably not a big question, but who changed my shirts?"

Everyone snickers and leaves the room as Walt says with a wink, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

_Seriously!? I get no respect at all._

When I recloaked myself, I entered the barracks. The barracks was much more spacious than I imagined. Racks filled with weapons lined the walls, shelves replete with books, and as of a few seconds ago, a young woman on the ground.

"Really, Sumia, You must work out that peculiar falling habit soon," said a blonde haired woman with a very haughty expression.

"I'm sorry, Maribelle, but It's a lot more difficult than it looks," says Sumia.

"Well, maybe good ol' Teach can show ya how it's done," suggested a large man wearing next to no shirt who I assume is Vaike.

Not wanting to draw unnecessary attention, I find the guys and rejoin them.

Zaine, Cole, even Tristan acknowledges me. Walt however, is staring across the room.

I should explain. See Walt, when he's not a zombicidal maniac or brainless idiot, he's a complete and total flirt. He will not refuse any opportunity to hit on any girl he comes across, no matter the circumstances.

So Walt strides right up to Sumia, and extends his hand to the fallen girl, which she graciously takes.

"With looks like those," he began," you must've fallen from the heavens."

Sumia face completely flushes red, but does not slap him. I guess she's too nice of a girl to do that. Luckily, I know Maribelle is not, as she walk right up to Walt and calls him out for being as she put it:"a slavering, troglodytic, animal," and walked away.

Now it was my turn to laugh with the guys as Walt saunters back over, rubbing the visible handprint left on his face.

"Absolutely worth it," he proclaims with a toothed smile.

Before any more insanity began, the doors opened, revealing Lissa pulling Robin by the coat sleeve into the barracks, Chrom following.

"...And this is the Shepherd's barracks, the entire base of operations," she explained to the tactician, who seemed a bit whiplashed and not really paying attention. His line of sight focuses on me and the guys.

"Gentleman, hello," he greeted with. "Glad to see you back on your feet, Niko."

"You can't keep a good man out too long," taking an actor's bow while speaking.

I look up and catch Lissa looking at me for a second, before quickly looking away.

_Man, it's scorching hot in here. Even her faced is flushed red._

Now that Robin was now properly introduced to everyone present, Vaike's boastful belch, and Maribelle's posthaste departure in disgust, Chrom had finally called the meeting of the Shepherds to order.

"Firstly, I am impressed by the number of new recruits we have assembled in so little of time." We all take looks at each other, acknowledging all the assortment of warriors assembled under a common banner. I could have sworn I saw someone else there, but could have just been my imagination.

"Secondly, and the fact of the matter, is this: Plegians under the guise of brigands are making their way past the border patrols and pillaging towns in Ylisse."

"Which is why the exalt approved a venture to the northern region of Regna Ferox to ask for support," Robin cut in.

"We leave tomorrow morning, so make sure everyone is prepared before we leave. Thank you."

Chrom motion to Lissa to follow him, leaving through the door they came in.

The next day came way too early.

_This makes no sense! The friggin' sun isn't even up yet._

Almost everyone else seemed to feel the same way, marching sluggishly along this winding road heading north. With nothing really to talk to the guys about, and since I remember this part vaguely, travel behind Vaike to make sure he doesn't drop his axe.

_Come on, make this walk somewhat interesting._

Nothing...

...Still nothing...

...Abso-freaking-lutely nothing!

I feel like screaming at him to do something when a shout comes from the front of the caravan

"Risen about a half mile up the road!"yelled Stahl, a cavalier among the Shepherds along with Sully. He's seems dependable, yet somewhat lazy. He seems like someone I can get along with pretty well.

But back to the brainless zombie hordes cluttering the road.

Same story, different day. Unsheathe swords, sharpen axes, aim spears, bring out staves, and open tomes; ready to rock. Chrom lead the charge right into the fray, and lopped off the head of one of the resurrected beasts.

Blades clash. Metal rings. Arrows fly. Fire burns. Risen fall.

And yet, there are still dozens of these things.

No matter how much we kill, more find their way here.

_And there is yet another chieftain, this one behind about twenty zombies. Fantastic._

My thoughts were then interrupted by a woman with red hair unorthodoxly carrying a huge, double-bladed axe.

"Pardon me, fellow practitioner in the arcane arts," She begins. "My name is Miriel. Would you by chance happen to know the original owner of this weapon I found back down the road?"

_There we go._

I look across the battle field and shout, "Hey, Vaike! Did you happen to loose your axe?"

"Sorry buddy, but I still got mine," he yelled back.

"We'll get over here and-"

_Wait, what?_

My utter confusion is then added upon by hearing a vicious roar pierce the air like a dagger. I find the source as I look up and see a terrifying sight. From the sky drops down a massive, steel gray, winged lizard, spewing fire. The Shepherds fall back to escape the blaze, but realize that the Risen are the only things getting caught up in it. I look closer, and see someone riding on top of the beast, short brown hair armored and wearing glasses. Rather familiar to me

The inferno resulted in the almost complete destruction of the enemy force. The only ones left were the chieftain and a couple foot soldiers.

Taking advantage of the situation, Chrom, Robin, and I make our way to finish the leader off, with Zaine, Walt, and Tristan picking off the stragglers.

Both the commander and the tactician dealt brutal blows to the boss zombie in unison. As it reeled back in reaction to the hit, I finally dealt some payback to these freaks in the form of a burning fireball to the face.

"Arrivederci!"

And with that, the battle was over, but not before the dragon-thing landed right next to us, and let out another cacophonic howl.

"Shut up, Clank! I was trying to sleep ya stupid wyvern!"

We hear the rider of the monster speak, in a tone I recognize all too well.

I somehow knew we'd find him eventually.

But I did not, repeat did not, expect to find him saving our lives while sleeping, strapped to a vicious fire-breathing monster.

The man looks at me and my friends. "Hey guys. I was worried I was the only guy here.

_Nonchalant as usual_

"Nice to see you too, Karl," We all say stunned.

"Wait, you know this guy too?" Robin asks more stunned than us.

**A/N: And just like that another friend is found, and the Risen defeated. But what is this Karl like? How did he learn to ride a terrifying lizard while sleeping? And more importantly, who dropped the axe on the road if it wasn't Vaike. Find out the answers to most of these next time on Fire Emblem: Seven Stars.**

**P.S.: Feel free to comment, review, favorite, or follow this story as it will be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all the great reviews I've gotten already. As always I will release the next chapter as soon as I can. Keep cooking!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note: I Completely and utterly apologize for the absence of a chapter these past few weeks, as college keeps me writing essays every so often. But now no time for excuses! I now bring you the next installment of Seven Stars. Enjoy...**

**Chapter 4: Pals and Pranks**

"So let me get this straight here: we all arrived in some kind of alternate world that's pretty much that game Niko and Tristan used to play," said Walt, trying to process the situation and keep in line with everyone.

After the fight against the legion of magically reanimated corpses, the Shepherds had made their way farther north towards the land of Regna Ferox, minus Sumia, who stayed behind to take care of an injured pegasus we had come across. The landscape had started to become more and more snow-covered the further we pressed on.

"I don't really believe it either," says Karl, our newest addition to the Shepherds.

"Says the guy riding a freaking wyvern!" I snap back at him. Out of all of us on this expedition, the person the guys and I are completely envious of right now is not one of the knights on horseback, nor is it one of the nobles riding in the infinitely warmer carriages. No, who all of us are really jealous of is the one that is flying through the air on a giant lizard.

"Seriously dude," Zaine started, "How in the frostbitten blazes of Hell did you find that thing?"

"Well, actually," Karl began, "Clank found me."

_Great, he named it after that robot from that thing he likes. Real usage of creativity there, buddy._

"So I wake up wet, freezing my ass off on a beach at night," he continued. "And by beach, I don't mean bright and sunny, I'm talking freaking rocks and snow. Cold as Hell, you know?"

" You know, I have **no idea **what you're talking about," Cole yells sarcastically, arms outstretched to indicate the white stuff everywhere.

"Anyway," Karl started again, ignoring Cole. "I go up to this cave and get inside. I then realize that there's this backpack I'm carrying, so I look inside and find some flint, a whole lot of bandages, a metric ton of meat, and a large saddle. I made a fire using the flint and some random sticks I could find, then fell asleep. When I wake up, I see this big guy here roaring and writhing on the ground near me. I see an axe dug into him. So acting on my knowledge of Surgeon Simulator, removed the axe, patched him up with the bandages, all the while feeding him the meat so he wouldn't bite my head off. And after all that, well, I fell asleep."

"Not surprising," I commented.

_Leave it Karl to sleep in the face of dangerous things that could probably kill him but don't. Stupid lucky narcoleptic._

"So when I wake up, I find a roasted bear Clank apparently brought in. Needless to say, it tasted delicious. Then we decided to team up when those zombie guys attacked, I fell asleep again, then woke up to you guys."

"Nice," goes Walt.

"Only to a guy like you," responds Zaine.

"Dammit, guys," I yell furiously. "Am I the only one here that doesn't like bear meat?"

Cole just nods while Tristan, as always, is laughing like a lunatic. I can only groan at this.

The caravan comes to a halt, with messages relayed to us, saying that we'll make camp before we reach the Feroxi border. This means we set up tents and campfires. Thank whatever god exists in this place for the ability to feel my face again. The Shepherds spent this resting period eating, drinking, and storytelling around the fire. Most of it was Virion recounting his adventures as the "Archest of Archers," so a lot of people, my friends included, decide to head back to their tents. I stand up to join them, when all of a sudden something catches my ear.

"Ummmm, Niko?"

I turn around to see Lissa, wearing an unbelievable amount of insulated clothing: fur coat, hat, blue scarf, all wrapped up by a large cloak. I can't help but stifle a chuckle while saying hi.

Unfortunately, she notices me doing this.

"Hey, don't laugh," she said pouting. "My brother made me wear this. Didn't want his sister catching a fever or something."

"Well, at least you're not cold." I start rubbing my arms to accentuate my point.

"Here, take this," she says while unwrapping the scarf from her neck and bringing it to me.

"No you don't have to. I'm fine, really."

"Please, it's the least I can do to thank you for saving my life." She now wraps the scarf around my neck.

Now the cold is making her cheeks flushed red. She's got to really find a way to regulate her body temperature or something.

"Thanks for that then," realizing I can't reason with her. I forgot how stubborn she was in the story, and how she also was...

_Wait, I know what I can do._

"Hey Lissa, I've got a favor to ask."

"What's that?" she asks turning back to me.

"You see, the other guys, namely Zaine, Walt, Cole, and Karl, are idiots that play pranks on me. And I want to get back at them, but I can't really come up with anything."

Lissa's mouth begins to curl into a smile. "Say no more, I know exactly what to do."

When morning comes, I get up quickly and make my way outside to the other guys' tents. From there, it begins.

"Hey guys!" I start yelling, "We're getting ready to move on!"

I see tent flaps moving and start hearing it.

"What the hell?"

"Dude, really?"

"You asshole!"

"Heh...nice"

"Now I really will kill you."

After highfiving Lissa, digging them out, and getting hit on the head by the guys, I realized that the teamup prank was the best one I really ever done. It was completely worth it.

The walk to the border was actually fairly short. And fairly noticeable, due to it being a really big wall that would make China's look a tennis net.

We quickly get stopped by the woman that's in charge of the wall, I forget her name, who thinks that were bandits pretending to be the Shepherds. To be fair though, she probably did not like getting hit on by Walt or the joke Tristan gave as a response to her saying she's the queen of Valm.

So we have to fight to prove Chrom's identity as the prince of Ylisse. Makes sense to me.

As we're not even halfway through Robin's strategy of how to overcome the Feroxi guards, they all start lining up with javelins and they let them fly. It's a wild scramble to evade them, but we all manage to miraculously. But not as much as Chrom who gets saved by the girl we all know he'll marry sometime down the road, Sumia. Remember how she stayed behind for half a day taking care of a pegasus? Well, during that time she also learned how to ride one and how to fight on one. That seems a bit contrived, but who am I to judge, it saved our leader's life.

And so, the fight begins: Chrom continues riding with Sumia, the cavalry takes care of the archers trying to shoot them out of the sky, Robin, Miriel, and I attack the armoured knights with our tome magic, and Karl rides on Clank into the fort to wipe out the javelin throwers. We get to the gates, only to find out we couldn't find the keys to them. Zaine then reveals that as a thief, he has a lockpick, so he cracks the lock while Tristan guards him.

So in the end, we take the day, and proving our worth and access to see the khan of Ferox. So the Shepherds and I get on our way.

Zaine calls my attention with a wave. "Niko, what can we expect from this place?"

"Feroxian democracy," I reply. "Which pretty much means a fighting tournament."

Karl interjects with "Dude, when did this become DBZ? I'm so ready!"

"Karl, Come on!" everyone interjects.

**A/N: So there we go! We start to see Niko get revenge on his prankster friends. How much farther will his teamup with Lissa take him? Will Tristan and the other retaliate with even more brutal pranks? And less importantly, what will happen when the Shepherds get into Ferox? Find out next time on Fire Emblem: Seven Stars!**

**P.S.: Really sorry it took so long!**


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